Britain is among casual sex capitals of the Western world, research claims

British men and women are the most promiscuous of any major Western nation, according to research.

By Martin Beckford and Alastair Jamieson

12:24PM GMT 30 Nov 2008

The UK comes out ahead of Australia, France, the Netherlands, Italy and the United States when it comes to one-night stands, attitudes to casual sex and the number of sexual partners, it is claimed.

Researchers said Britain's position on the international index may be linked to increasing social acceptance of promiscuity among women as well as men.

David Schymitt, a professor of psychology at Bradley University, Illinois, who oversaw the international index compiled from anonymous questionnaires sent to more than 14,000 people in 48 countries, said: "Historically we have repressed women's short-term mating and there are all sorts of double standards out there where men's short-term mating was sort of acceptable but women's wasn't."

Those who took part in the survey were asked how many sexual partners and one-night stands they had had. They were then asked how many people they expected to sleep with over the next five years and how comfortable they were with the idea of casual sex.

The results were turned into an index of how sexually liberal people are, with higher scores suggesting a more relaxed attitude.

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Britain scored 40 in the index – well behind Finland, which scored 51, and Baltic states but ahead of any other major industrialised Western nation. Taiwan scored lowest, with 19.

The findings come as an MTV survey of British teenagers found one in three has had unprotected sexual intercourse with as many as five partners. The poll of 1,000 young people disclosed that 60 per cent of young people believe it is now easier than ever to have casual sex, with 40 per cent believing that one-night stands are "no big deal".

The MTV poll found more than one-third of young people in Britain believe it is acceptable for someone to have had as many as 10 sexual partners by the age of 21.

It went on: "The report also indicates that the number of people still having unprotected sex is alarmingly high."

One-third of the 16- to 34-year-olds who responded to the survey said they had had unprotected sex with between two and five people, with 60 per cent of young women saying they had done so "simply because they trusted their partner".

"In fact, more people were worried about unwanted pregnancies than contracting an STD," the report says.

Of the teenage boys who were questioned, 61 per cent said they were more worried about a girlfriend getting pregnant than catching a disease from them.

In addition, the survey discovered that 41 per cent of under-24s had either contracted an STD themselves or knew someone who had done so, "indicating a marked downturn in the sexual health of Britain's youth".

More than nine out 10 claimed they would not tell their partner if they thought they had an STD, while a similar proportion of those under 20 had never been tested.